


It takes a year to fall in love (or sometimes just a minute)

by Sweven



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Developing Relationship, F/M, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-22 17:39:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13171926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweven/pseuds/Sweven
Summary: All Han could think wasshe’s beautifulfollowed quickly byoh fuck me this is a bad idea.





	It takes a year to fall in love (or sometimes just a minute)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [queenofteacups](https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenofteacups/gifts).



> Gift for [leopoldjamesfitz](http://leopoldjamesfitz.tumblr.com/) for the HanLeia gift exchange! First modern AU I've ever written, I hope it's to your liking :)
> 
> A massive thank you goes out to [just-lils](https://just-lils.tumblr.com) for helping me wrangle the plot on this, I couldn't've done it without you! <3

**January**     
On the 1st of January, Lando left them, muttering about lying, cheating friends after Han won one too many hands of cards against him. Really, Han thought, Lando shouldn’t have wagered his car if he wasn’t ready to lose it, it wasn’t _Han’s_ fault that his friend was terrible at poker.  
As Han heard the door slam behind his old friend, he shrugged and tried to ignore the low burn of regret in the pit of his stomach. He hadn’t cheated, he _never_ cheated, but his taunting might have crossed a line, and he wasn’t sure if the friendship could be mended.  
  
A few weeks after Lando ditched them, Han and Chewbacca put out an ad for a new roommate. Han didn't really want to, it felt dishonest and _too soon_ , but his best friend was nothing if not persuasive. Chewie was tall and loud and more than a little intimidating when he wanted to be, and him constantly reminding Han that they needed a third person to make rent finally convinced Han that Chewie was right.  
  
Han really hadn’t expected someone like Leia to apply for the ratty room, a charity worker from a far-away city he’d never even heard of, holding herself like royalty and talking like she owned the place.

As she stood in the tiny, dark flat in her stark white clothes and with her carefully done up hair, she looked around appraisingly, radiance and determination coming off of her in waves. All Han could think was _she’s beautiful_ followed quickly by _oh fuck_   _me this is a bad idea._  
When Leia said that she'd take it, Han was simultaneously exhilarated and more than a little unnerved. This stranger could change everything, he sensed.   
  
Han had a bad feeling about this.   
  


**February**    
As winter was finally waning, Luke came over one early morning to force Han to work. »If you’re late for one more shift,« the young man said as he wrestled with Han to get him out of the bed, »- Jabba will fire you for sure!«  
»Fine kid, fine! I’m going!,« Han grumbled and disappeared into the shower.  
Luke sighed and shook his head. »Might as well make the coffee now, otherwise I’ll never get him out of here…,« the blond mumbled to himself and went to the kitchen. He stopped dead in his tracks as he saw the woman sitting at the table, sipping steaming tea and reading the paper.  
»Good morning,« she said, and looked up at the stranger in the kitchen.  
»Hi…,« Luke said weakly. »Uh… I’m Luke,« he continued after staring for a moment. »I work next to Jabba’s diner, down at Tosche Electronics.«  
»Leia,« she smiled. »I just moved in last week, I work downtown, at a charity fund.«  
  
When Han exited the shower, the two were in pleasant conversation about electronics of all things, and Han shook his head at the duo.  
Luke was showing Leia some of the drones Han was building in his spare time, pulling out bits and pieces from the cupboards with easy familiarity. Luke tinkered with the circuitry and wires, his delight in his craft apparent, and Leia watched on carefully and asked all the right questions, her brown eyes sparkling with interest.  
  
Han couldn’t help but smile at the sight of his friend and his new roommate and at the way they seemed to fit so perfectly together.  
  


**March**    
Han knew about loss. He had felt the fist of grief tightening around his heart when his loved ones had passed, when they’d left him behind to fend for himself.  
Now he saw the same grief in the beautiful stranger living in their apartment, in the way Leia held her mug of sugared tea close to her chest late at night, in the way she wouldn’t sleep until the apartment was quiet and how even then she would be up a few hours later, dark rings under her eyes as she poured herself another cup of tea and sat quietly at the window, staring down at the always busy cityscape.  
  
Han wasn’t sure what had happened to Leia, what loss she had suffered, and he wasn’t sure how to ask. Instead he filled the cupboards with tea and sugar and made sure to be near when she woke from her nightmares.  
  


**April**    
In April, Han woke to Chewie’s indignant shouting and Leia’s cutting response was no less loud.  
»You think that _I’m_ to blame for the hairballs around here? You’re a walking carpet and you’re _shedding!_ ,« her shrill remark was almost drowned in another unintelligible roar and Han groaned, burying his head in his pillow, but even then he could still hear their shouting. Soon enough they were banging at his door, looking for Han to be the mediator in this ridiculous argument.  
Han threw a book at the door in the hopes that they would go away, but he had never been that lucky.  
»You’re the one who wanted another roommate, Chewie!,« Han bellowed at the door as he pulled himself from the sheets, having given up on any hope for more sleep.  
  


**May**    
For the first months of summer, when she wasn’t at work, Leia locked herself away in her room, scarcely leaving it except for food. Even then she was always carrying a thick binder of legal texts that made Han’s head spin just to look at them.  
When he asked what the deal was, she tried explaining, but Han felt his attention dwindling quickly as she told him of how she thought she might’ve found a legal loophole, some way to help a country that had been ravaged by war but had been caught up in complicated politics.  
In the end Leia realised that he wasn’t really listening, and just shook her head and withdrew to her room again.  
  
He’d become accustomed to her presence, Han realised, so much so that her absence left a gap, and he didn’t quite know what to do with himself.  
Han took extra shifts at the diner, something he’d intended to do for a while, and ignored Chewie when his friend snidely asked about his timing.  
  


**June**    
Halfway through June, Leia reappeared, more exhausted and thinner than she had been, but happier somehow, more at ease.

Han didn’t see her with the papers as often any longer, and when he asked about them, Leia simply replied that »I did my part. For now, it’s out of my hands,« and smiled a cryptic smile.  
Han didn’t understand, but she started hanging around at the diner again, and Han happily cooked for her and watched as her cheeks became rounder and the bags under her eyes lessened.  
He treasured those moments when they were all at the diner together, the simple moments like Leia biting into a burger barelegged and with a glint in her eye, Luke with oil-stained fingertips making another stupid joke that made Chewie bark with laughter from behind the counter. Things were good.  
  


**July  
** In the blistering heat of summer, when the air was dry and truths were harder to hide, Han finally asked her why she had trouble sleeping, what the cause of her grief was.  
»War,« Leia replied, voice low and terse, her dark eyes serious. Suddenly she seemed older than she had before.   
»You're a soldier?,« Han asked with a raised eyebrow. He thought many things of Leia, but he couldn't imagine her in boot camp.  
The young woman shook her head, heavy braids moving softly around her face, and Han realised again that she was beautiful, a swelling bubble of adoration moving up through his chest.   
»No,« she replied. »I worked as a foreign aid worker for a while. It… was rough. I lost some friends down there, good people who were just trying to help.«  
»Why didn’t you go home after that?,« Han asked. »To your parents? Why come here?«  
Leia looked at him, eyes hardening. »They’re gone. There’s no one to go home to. I needed a new start. I’m sure you can relate to that.«  
Leia got to her feet, carefully straightening her long dress, brushing imaginary dirt from it and Han took the dismissal for what it was.   
  


**August**    
In August they spent the warm summer nights on the roof, dangling tanned legs over the ledge while drinking cheap beer and making up wild stories about the passer-bys on the street.  
Sometimes Han thought that the wrinkle in Leia’s brow had vanished, but it always returned, no matter how sweet the evenings were.

One night as the sun was setting and Han had had a few too many beers, he leaned on Leia more heavily than he usually did, eager to be close to her, and when she put her arm around his waist, he felt a jolt of courage.  
Han slowly leaned closer, agonizingly slow, to Han it felt like an eternity, and pressed his lips to hers. Her soft lips smelled of beer and summer and Han wanted this moment to last forever.  
He felt Leia lean into the kiss, felt her lips part for an instant before she withdrew, and she shook her head with a sad smile.  
The rejection hurt a bit, but Han wasn’t really surprised. He drew back a bit, but when she put her head on his shoulder, he felt nothing but pure affection for this young woman who had been carrying loss on her shoulders alone for too long. He kissed her hair and held her close as a few silent tears rolled down her face.  
They sat like that for a while and watched the sun go down together.  
  


**September**    
The first time Han saw Leia speaking publicly was in September. It was Luke’s fault, Han thought later. Han had been working at the diner when Luke had switched the channels, eager to watch something other than the same old dull dramas they played every day during the blond’s lunch break.  
Han hadn’t thought anything of it until he heard the soft »oh…« that escaped Luke and Han looked at the screen.  
  
Leia stood there, clad in all white, her hair in elaborate buns and steel in her voice, and as she spoke, Han felt his skin prickle with an odd sensation. This Leia was all hard edges and a cool, professional facade, and she spoke of war, of terrible injustices to a country far away. Han was fascinated by this side her. She pleaded with a gathering of old men for aid, for help with rebuilding what had been lost, voice ringing with compassion. After the speech, Han felt like he understood Leia a bit more, and a lot less.  
She was so unlike the Leia he lived with, this statuesque woman on the screen. His Leia was brash and hard-headed but also warm and caring, nothing at all like the Leia giving important speeches on television, yet somehow also so alike.

  
When he came home, he found Leia curled up in a blanket, hair in a couple of messy braids instead of the careful buns they’d been tied into earlier. She was cradling a cup of tea and had a blank look in her eyes, and Han thought that she might as well have been a thousand kilometres away. She heard him enter and looked at him.  
»I heard your speech…,« Han started, unsure of how to act now that he had seen this side of her. »You didn’t tell me that you could speak like that.«  
Leia nodded slightly. »I wasn’t sure I could,« her mouth twisted into a small smile. »I didn’t really know how to say it until I was up there…«  
Han sat down next to her and she shifted and leaned on him. »You did good, princess,« he murmured into her hair and Leia chuckled.  
  


**October**    
On Halloween, Lando invited them to his place. Han had scoffed at the idea of the masquerade, had warned his friends to be wary of the guy, sure that he must be up to _something_ , sure that Lando hadn’t forgotten, hadn’t forgiven. Secretly, he’d been worried about seeing his old friend for the first time in ten months, worried that their parting had shattered whatever friendship remained between them.  
Leia had insisted that they go, insisted that turning down an invitation like that would be _rude_ and she cheerfully dragged them all to the party.  
  
When they arrived, Lando was the perfect host, greeting them with a bow in a well-fitting vampire costume that had clearly been chosen for the low cut of the trousers, Han thought. Lando was especially courteous to Leia and Luke, it seemed to Han, welcoming and with the same sense of dramatics as Lando had always had. As their host sent them off towards the bar, he caught Han’s eye and winked. Han smirked at his friend, relieved that their friendship was intact.  
  


Leia looked strangely at home here, Han thought, she fit in perfectly here amongst the masked crowd. She carried her macabre garb with grace, droplets of fake blood pooling in the indents of her collarbones. Her face was half-hidden by a mask, all of her grief hidden away for a moment as she drank Lando’s expensive champagne and flirted with their host. Han envied his friend the attention.  
  
Han stood at the bar and tried desperately to avoid following Leia around the room with his eyes, tried telling himself that it didn’t matter that she looked stunning in her ball-gown dress, that the way the soft orange Jack-o-Lantern lights reflected in her eyes was meaningless, that her intoxicating smile when she danced from partner to partner on the dance-floor was inconsequential.  
As the music trailed off, Leia kissed Luke on the cheek and handed him over to Lando who, with a graceful bow, gladly took over, dazzling the blond with his smile.  
  
Leia turned then and smiled at Han from across the room and he realised that he loved her.  
  


**November**    
As the darkness stole away the days, Han began noticing Leia staring at him. He noticed because he was staring at her - still. He had been staring at her for the better part of a year, and if he was being entirely honest, he didn’t know that he would ever stop.  
The first time he noticed, Han was tinkering with a broken drone in the shared living room, eager to get it flying again. Leia had settled down in the sofa across from him with a book, stealing furtive glances when she thought he was focused on the drone. Han found it a bit strange, but shrugged it off. Maybe she liked his shirt. Or didn’t like it. Best not to think too much about it.  
As November passed he caught her looking at him more and more often and he found it harder and harder to ignore. He noticed the looks when they were at home alone in the quiet mornings after Chewie had left for his shift, when they were at the diner stealing fries from Luke and Lando, when they were on their way home, hopelessly drunk and leaning on each other to keep their balance.  
Pondering the meaning of the glances sent a small thrill through him and he couldn’t squash the tiny glimmer of hope he felt every time she looked at him with _that_ look.  
  


One dark afternoon, just as Han was getting ready to finally _finally_ go home after a shift that had felt like it lasted an eternity, Leia burst into the diner, eyes wild and smile wider than he had ever seen it.  
»Han!,« she yelled, ignoring the patrons who were turning their heads at the disturbance. Han tossed his apron aside and walked towards her. She was grasping an official-looking letter, fingers clenched around it hard and as soon as he was clear of the counter, she wrapped him in a tight hug.  
»Leia,« Han said quietly, worry thickening his voice as he returned the hug. »Is everything alright?«  
She looked up at him with bright eyes, nodding vigorously. »They listened to me. That speech I gave? It worked, they’re sending the help I asked for.«

It seemed to Han that Leia slept better after that. He didn’t find her wandering the kitchen in the early hours before dawn as often. She seemed a bit happier as well, the sadness wasn’t weighing her down quite as much as it used to. Han smiled to himself, but made sure that the cupboards were still filled with tea and sugar.  
  


**December**    
The snowfall started late in the night, the heavy white snow falling like a thick blanket over the city, muffling every sound. When he woke, it was still dark outside, the cold creeping into every corner, and Han groaned as he pulled himself out of bed. Han shuffled into the kitchen, tired and grumpy from the cold and wanting little more than to crawl back into bed.

As he turned the corner, Han felt his breath hitch and suddenly he felt heat spreading through his body. He saw Leia sitting in the windowsill, wrapped in a blanket and cradling her favourite mug filled with steaming hot tea, and Han thought that this was the most at peace he'd ever seen her.   
She was beautiful like this, still half asleep and with a soft, sleepy smile on her lips as she looked out the window. Han shifted his weight and the floor boards creaked slightly, not enough to startle her, but enough that she looked his way and Han felt his face redden.   
  
They went for a walk later in the day. It was peaceful like this, the world blanketed and quieted.  
Right until Leia shoved a fist of snow down his shirt that is.  
When Han managed to trip Leia, get her enough off balance that she fell, she pulled Han down with her, peals of laughter filling the air as she fell carelessly backwards into the deep snow.

»Hi,« Han said breathlessly, staring at Leia as she lay half-buried in the snow. She was beautiful like this, with her rosy cheeks and dark eyes glittering in the light, her hair braided into a coronet around her head, wisps of hair slowly coming loose, and Han couldn’t help but draw closer.  
»Hi,« Leia replied with a smile and brought a cold glove to the side of his face.  
»I love you, you know?,« Han said before he could stop himself, before he had a chance to second-guess himself as he had done for the better part of a year.  
She smiled and in this smile there was none of the sadness that Han had grown used to. »I know,« and before Han could react, he felt a handful of snow on his face and yelped as he tried to scurry away from the wetness. Before he far, Leia tackled him, bringing him down on his back and straddled him.  
»Wha- that’s playing… dirty…,« Han’s half-shout trailed off as he noticed how close Leia was to his face.  
»I love you too,« she said softly and when she kissed him, Han felt like he’d never be cold again.

 


End file.
